Outspoken Rita Walters Named President of L.A. School Board

Rita Walters, an outspoken liberal, was elected president of the Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday, becoming the first black woman to head the seven-member panel.

Walters, 54, was the only nominee, and she was elected by a 6-1 vote. The only dissenting vote came from new board member David Armor, a conservative from the West San Fernando Valley.

Armor said later that his vote did not reflect a dislike for Walters, but only the “deep policy differences” between the two.

Walter’s election does not change the liberal-conservative balance on the governing board of the nation’s second largest school district.

Board liberals are Walters, who represents Southwest Los Angeles; Jackie Goldberg, who represents the Echo Park-Hollywood area, and Eastside representative Larry Gonzalez. In the ideological middle are John Greenwood, the past president of the board who represents the Harbor area, and Westside representative Alan Gershman.

Conservative Roberta Weintraub of the East San Fernando Valley is being joined by Armor, who was recently elected to replace conservative Tom Bartman, an attorney and busing foe activist who joined the board in 1980.

Although the school board president does not wield much more power than other board members, Walters will be able to set the tone for the board during the next year. She gave a preview of her feelings immediately after her election.

“We still have questions of equity in education. Too many children in this district are still not receiving equal education,” Walters said. “We must continue to address the overcrowded conditions. We have to move faster on air conditioning for year-round schools, and I’m hopeful that we will be successful in our teacher recruiting effort this year.

“Given the mood since the passage of Proposition 13, I think public education is on the upside of the curve. They saw how schools suffered because of Proposition 13. I think that the public is beginning to realize that quality education costs money.”

Gaining the board presidency was not an easy task for Walters. In 1983, she was nominated for the position but lost to Greenwood. After Greenwood was re-elected 1984, Walters began a quiet, behind-the-scenes campaign among board members to get their support for her second attempt at getting the job.

Never Particularly Popular

A former adult school teacher and civil rights activist, Walters was elected on her third attempt for the board in 1979. Since her election, she has never been one of the more popular board members among her colleagues. When anti-busing proponents held a majority on the board, Walters was a staunch voice for using court-ordered busing to achieve racial desegregation.

Because of her stands, Walters often was isolated from other board members. To get her views across during board meetings, she sometimes resorted to sarcasm. And while some of her colleagues found her abrasive, they appeared to respect Walters for her views and for her effectiveness.

To become board president--and to establish a better rapport with the other members--Walters took the unusual step of spending a year in behind-the-scenes politicking for her candidacy. The board presidency has never been assigned on a rotating basis; rather it has been awarded to the person the majority of the board believes can best guide the body.

In 1979, for example, neophyte board member Weintraub was elected president after feuding conservative and liberal factions could not agree on a veteran member. As it turned out, Weintraub was not the moderating force both sides wanted.

Walters gained public attention in 1982 by introducing a motion that required students to maintain a “C” average in order to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities.

Walters came under harsh criticism from high school principals, coaches and students for pushing the grade requirement. After much controversy, the board unanimously approved the proposal.

In recent weeks Walters was one of the driving forces behind the student drive that raised more than $400,000 for medical and relief supplies for Ethiopian famine victims.

The first black president of the Los Angeles Board of Education was Rev. James Jones, who was elected to the post in 1968.

In another matter, the board voted unanimously Monday to approve a Gonzalez motion to expand an experimental bilingual program. The program, now under way at Eastman Elementary school, calls for children to be taught demanding courses in their native language while they are gradually eased into English classes.